As Mad Men winds down, we find our beloved anti-hero, Don Draper, losing his agency. Over ten years in television time we’ve watched him pull rabbit after rabbit out of his fedora to stay ahead of mergers and takeovers. (Not to mention contracts.) Despite a last-ditch effort, this time there…

Over the past year I’ve been fortunate to collaborate with the sustainability team at Autodesk to envision their support for the design-led revolution. Haven’t heard of it? You may not know the DLR moniker, but you’ve seen revolutionary design in action. From affordable prosthetics to solar robotics, high-impact solutions are…

Not many things are as rewarding as seeing your work endure! This week I received a charming note from a former pro bono client, the Center for Environmental Health, in thanks for my annual donation: “Dear Erica, Thanks for supporting our work so generously. Of course, how could you say…

It seems everyone is talking about purpose these days. Imperative has a new take on what purpose means in your career — it’s not the cause you work for, but how you work. Curious to see what surprises it might reveal, I took Imperative’s purpose driver quiz. My results: …

Arguably, the greatest contribution tech companies have made to the workplace is lunch. Hattery takes it even farther – not only hiring a chef to feed their staff, but making it a centerpiece of their cultural strategy. They put their accomplished chef, Tina Dang, out front and center. She and…

The book Small Giants resonated with me in a way few business books ever have. Author Bo Burlingham defines small giants as “companies that choose to be great instead of big”, an idea near and dear to my heart. As a young designer in Chicago, my employers and clients were…

Friday I attended a talk by Hunter Lovins at California College of the Arts. She briefly touched on a point of view about globalization that struck me: You can’t have a living economy without a local economy — otherwise, you have an economy that is either killing or dying. Think…

Since 2004 I’ve been a volunteer for the fantastic Taproot Foundation, which supports non-profits by providing them with pro bono teams of consultants they couldn’t otherwise afford. Originally their service grants covered basics like logo design and website development, but have expanded to cover everything from databases to board training….

Erica Frye

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“Erica is unstintingly thorough and brilliant at getting to the heart of the strategic matter, distilling masses of information into actionable ideas that cover a smart range of options. I loved working with her, and our clients adored her thinking, responsiveness and vivacious self.

“Extremely thorough in her research, she left no stone unturned and wasn’t afraid to venture into the unknown. She also expressed key insights in clear, meaningful ways to persuade us to consider alternatives and move the team and the vision forward."

“Erica is one of the most knowledgeable and strategic marketers that I have had the pleasure of working with. She has equal ability to see both the big picture and the minutia of every project, and to translate her vision into effective solutions for her clients.

“Collaborating with Erica has made me a bit spoiled, because she has really raised the bar! I could always rely on very informed ideas on process improvements and raising the standards of quality for all the projects we worked on together. It’s really obvious that Erica takes a lot of pride in her work and always has input that is valuable and appreciated.”

“Erica did an amazing job. She came up with some great preliminary concepts and produced a stunning final project. This was a protracted process on our end and she continued to provide quality work throughout.